Shallow draft.............

[silverhand69]

 Fey Sol (Aleutka 26')has 2'9" draft  bilge keel I don't even need a dingy.I can park her in the Chesapeake mud and slog to shore on my snowshoes... ;D
but seriously I wanted an ocean worthy vessel that I can gunkhole with-slowly and leisurely.If I wanted to go fast I would have kept my Penn Yan also shallow draft

[AdriftAtSea]

2'9" is still pretty deep, especially if the bottom is soft mud.  However, to get much shallower than that, you'd need to go with a multihull.  My trimaran only draws abut 15" with the board and rudder kicked up. :)  Having a shallow draft is a great thing IMHO, since it means you can go more places, and this gives you a lot more options when you have to hide from a storm. At sea, it also means that you'll hit far fewer things.

[LooseMoose]

Shallow draft is not only for multihulls... Our last boat Loose Moose 2 only drew 18 inches. Designed by Philip Bolger for us at 37 feet it was big enough for us to carry all our tools and have a dedicated office plus all the stuff you wind up being told should be left behind (guitars and real bikes for instance). We sailed some 20,000 miles on the boat and found ultra shallow draft  in a monohull to be both safe and practical.

Our previous boat also designed by Phil Bolger only drew 1 foot...

Bob

http://boatbits.blogspot.com/
http://fishingundersail.blogspot.com/
http://islandgourmand.blogspot.com/

[AdriftAtSea]

Yes, bolger did specialize in shallow draft craft in many of his designs. Which of his designs was the 37' boat? 

[LooseMoose]

Loose Moose 2... Otherwise known as the AS39

Bob

http://boatbits.blogspot.com/
http://fishingundersail.blogspot.com/
http://islandgourmand.blogspot.com/